Thursday, September 10, 2015

hardwood floors ~ one room at a time

We've lived in our house 25 years and naturally, a lot has changed during that time. Except for the master bedroom. It's always been last on our priority list. Sure, it's been painted a couple of times, but that's it. Guess that's what happens when you're busy raising a family and time and money are both scarce. 

Well, it's finally time to start making our bedroom the way we truly want it. I'm not going to do a complete "before" with this post ~ that will come at a later time when I do a total "before and after". Hubby painted the walls a soft, light gray - Sherwin Williams Lattice. It's a cooler gray (but not sterile) with a bluish undertone. The next step was to rip out the 27-year old carpet. You heard me correctly. The carpet in our bedroom was the original of the house!


 This was what we lived with for 25 years: multi-toned beige, sculpted carpet. Stuff that's not even pretty when it's new! And don't be too impressed with the condition it was in after all that time. This was the part that was under the bed. ;-)


The flooring guys will be here bright and early tomorrow morning to install Bruce hardwood floors in the bedroom. This is the flooring we have throughout the rest of the house - it's engineered hardwood. We started 15 years ago with the kitchen, then had the living room and hallway done five years after that. Phil's old bedroom (now my office) was done four years ago, and then Tim's room had the hardwood floors installed last year. We live in a ranch-style house, so all the flooring (except for the two bathrooms) will be uniform now. I highly recommend Bruce hardwood flooring, by the way. It wears very well. After 15 years, our kitchen floor is still beautiful and shiny. The only downside is that it does nick and scratch easily, so I'm assuming it's not the best choice if you have dogs, because of their nails.

Here's a photo of the living room floor so you can see what will be put in the bedroom...

 
If you're curious as to what engineered flooring is all about and if it's right for you - check out this article from Mike Holmes. And for a good article on when to use engineered hardwood floors, click here for a great article with beautiful photos from Houzz. Not being compensated from any of these companies in any way. Just a homeowner who's a fan of these hardwood floors.


16 comments:

  1. That looks like a lot of much needed work. Nice article, thanks for sharing and best wishes!

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  2. It's going to look great...we had carpet in the two guestrooms at the lake from 1978 til the 'flood' in March. You do the math---it hurts me! Thankfully they are so small that furniture covered it, and considering for the last 25 years not much action has gone on but for maybe 3 weeks out of the year. Still...oooooh!

    Jane x

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  3. It's going to be beautiful, Melanie. We had been thinking of doing laminate here, but are starting to think hardwood now...but we do have dogs. But this carpet has to go... Looking forward to seeing your project!

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  4. I remember having that carpet at some point in my younger years. :) The hardwood is gonna be great and the nicks and scratches just give it character. That wouldn't bother me at all.

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  5. It looks fantastic already, Melanie. I'm so excited for you. I would like to have wood floors in the living areas and bedrooms of my house. I already have good quarry tile in the wet areas, hallway and foyer, so wood (or even laminate) would be a nice upgrade for the rest of the house, which still has 80's era carpet (well, I did replace the family room carpet 2 years ago but it's wearing horribly and might as well be 25-30 years old like the rest!) :P

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  6. Very nice looking and I know you're going to love your new look.

    FlowerLady

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  7. Your bedroom will be a nice sanctuary for you when your new floors are in, Melanie. We've got the original 1921 maple floors in our home and they scratch and dent easily, too. Luckily the previous homeowner refinished the most of the floors, and we had the bedrooms and upstairs hallway done a few years ago. They are a good choice for those of us with allergies.

    Our living room wool carpet was 50 years old when we had it replaced in our previous home!

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  8. Your new floor will be fantastic!!!! It is nice to make changes and it sounds as though your carpet had done very good service so it deserves to be changed! Hope that you have a great weekend! xx

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  9. I know it is going to be beautiful. You must be very excited. xo Laura

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  10. It's a beautiful floor. How exciting to have a whole new look! Love the paint color, too.

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  11. It's going to be so beautiful. It's so exciting to redo something at home. We finally redid our kitchen in our home after 20 years (raising our children etc. etc. ) and I am still grateful and excited a whole year later each time I use it or walk into that room.

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  12. The floor looks great, I bet you can't wait to see it done in your bedroom. My bedroom is also last on m priority list, because basically guests aren't supposed to see it!

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  13. The new flooring will look wonderful in your bedroom. It must feel great to finally make some big changes in your bedroom... :)

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  14. How exciting, Melanie! I bet you're really happy to get that carpet out of there. I need to do the same in my bedroom. It's a horrible brown berber.

    Can't wait to see it when it's done. I love the paint color you chose too :)

    xo,
    rue

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  15. Oh Melanie,
    Hardwood floors are the only way to go, aren't they. I can't believe we all lived with carpet for so long!
    These are beautiful, and everything is coming together so nicely too.
    I hope you had a lovely little get away:)
    xo
    Jemma

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  16. I'm so excited for you! I am not a fan of carpet and love hardwood floors. They are so much easier to keep clean than carpet! I can't wait to see how everything will look! Thank you again for visiting the blog today and I look forward to getting to know you better! Have a wonderful evening!

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